Monday, February 27, 2006

Bonus Successfully cleared at Interpoker

Pretty busy at work today so this will be a quick one. I did clear my Interpoker bonus last night. I had a really rough stretch and at one point, I was down to about $20 of my original $100. Things like set over set and bigger boats on the river in PL Omaha did me in. Luckily, I got on a streak and got back up to about $45, with about 80 hands to clear still.

I opened 2 15c/25c NL HE tables with $15 each and 1 15c/25c PL Omaha Hi/Lo table with $10. I cleared the hands in about 2 hours while winning some nice pots at one particularly loose tables. The deck was hitting me in the face. I hit 500 raked hands with about $76 of my original $100. With the bonus, that put me at $176.

I cashed out $100 to re-whore somewhere else, and left the $76. I guess you get a $40 monthly bonus for 200 raked hands so hopefully I can do that each month and build up the bankroll.

Now I just have to figure out where to deploy the $100 in new resources. I was thinking about Ultimate because I have about $140 in uncleared bonus and they pay it as you go in increments. At the same time, the UB bonuses don’t expire so maybe I should take advantage of something else? So many choices, so many sleepless nights.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Home Game Friday Night

I went over my buddy's house on Friday night for a home game. There were 6 of us and we ended up playing 4 games. I had ridiculously great cards all night and ended up winning one and getting second in all 3 other games. It was a fun night. I need to work on my heads up play though. I was too aggressive and it killed me. Then in the last one, I slow played pocket As and the other guy hit 2 pair on the flop with 48o and I doubled him up on my way to losing it. Overall though, it was a profitable night.

We play $10 each game and the top 2 get paid, 2nd getting their buyin back. Overall, +$50.

Also, sshhhh. Don't tell Drewsmom but...On Friday afternoon I grabbed a couple quick picks to our lottery for that night. It is at like $200 millions so I figured a couple bucks would be cool. While I was doing that, I saw that they have a $5 scratch ticket that is a Caesars Palace ticket. I grabbed one, since we had stayed there in Vegas in October when I went there last. You can win a "high roller" trip to Vegas plus $2500 in cash. That would be cool huh?

Well, I didn't win that, but I did win $500! I am psyched because I already have a trip planned to Vegas from May 31-June 3 and I could use the bankroll boost. I am still not sure what I will do with it. I might actually use it to grab some online bonuses first and then cash it out for my Vegas trip. Ultimately, I will probably end up telling Drewsmom about it anyway, since I will feel guilty but...

Quick State Tourney Update

I got beat up a little bit on Interpoker yesterday morning when I shouldn't really have been playing. I am impatiently trying to finish off my bonus and ended up losing $15 in the morning while I was playing and also setting up my youngest son's train set. It was a little distracting.

I did a bit better in the live State Championship tourney yesterday though. Although there were 62 people on the invite list, only about 30 showed up for the tourney. That was good news since the top 16 would advance to the National Championship.

I was really card dead through the first couple levels. I only played 2 hands until the break. One was with AJo on the button. I raised to 3xBB and was called by 3 people. The flop was J high rainbow and I bet out half the pot and had one caller. The turn was a blank so I bet out half the pot again and was called. The river was another blank. I put out a smaller bet and was called again. With about 2000 in the pot, we flipped over the same cards and it was a chop. Grrr. Ok, so I am still about even there.

The next hand I played was with QJc. I limped and the flop came out 10 high with 2 clubs. I bet my draw with about half the pot. One guy called me. The turn was a K which also gave me the straight draw so I bet out half the pot again and after some thought was called. I figured this guy probably had the pair of 10s. When the river was another king, I checked and he checked and showed me his bottom pair of 6s with his 5 kicker. Pretty ballsy I thought of him. Put be in the hole by about 1000.

After the break, I got involved in another hand and lost son chips. The blinds were now at 200/400, I had about 2200 left in chips and had been a human folding machine for 2 hours. I was also the short stack at the table and only 1 person had been eliminated from the tourney so far. This was very rare and I knew they would start to fall soon because the blinds were rising.

Finally, my patience paid off. I looked down at pocket Aces in MP. The guy on my right, who had been playing every hand and was up and down had me covered by about 400 but limped into the pot. I thought for a couple seconds and thought, if I pushed, he might call me. Even if he didn't, I would chip up 1000 from the blinds and his limp.

I pushed and everyone folded over to him. He thought for a minute and called me. He had K7d. He did hit a 7 on the turn but no further improvement doubled me up. I had about 5000 at that point and coasted for a while as people started to get bounced from the tourney.

It quickly got down to 17 people and I still had a healthy stack. I had started to get into more hands and winning small pots with continuation bets. There was one bubble hand that pissed me off though. We had a guy all in, in the big blind and everyone folded over to me. The blinds were at 1000/2000 and I had about 8000. I had been folding KQ, QJ, A9, etc because they just weren't worth calling on the bubble. There were more than one hand where, if I had played, I would have already eliminated another person so I guess I was getting a little antsy.

Anyway, I looke down at K10 suited in the cutoff and everyone had folded to me. I thought a bit and limped, hoping that the understanding would be to surround this guy and get him eliminated, getting us all in"the money". The button folded then the small blind looked at my stack and pushed! I was ripped as I folded my cards. He turned over something ok like Ax, nothing great. The BB had K2h. The flop missed them both and so did the turn. There was a 10 out there so I was already aggravated, but didn't care that much, as long as the BB got eliminated. Well, of course, he river was a K, winning him the pot and pissing me off completely. It was pretty obvious I was pissed and said something. The SB didn't even look at me. The button tried to justify it saying he did the right thing trying to eliminate us both. What do you think about that? Would you have done the same? I had obviously only limped so the SB couldn't make anything by doing this. Wouldn't you have just saw how the board came down and then bet it once you hit? It is like bluffing the dry side pot if you ask me. Again what you do you think? What would you have done?

The long story longer is that I survived and went out in 9th place. I had 6000 left with the blinds at 2000/4000 and we were down to 4 people at my table and 5 at the other. I got pocket 6s on the button and pushed. The BB had pocket 10s and I was eliminated on the final table bubble which was kind of a bummer. Even though the top 16 advance, the final table got T-shirt and certificates for where they placed. Pretty dorky I know but still kind of a bummer. Also, the winner got a 3 night trip to Vegas and being so close was again a bummer.

The shitty part of this is that, what I didn't realize is that you just get an invite to the tourney. You need to get yourself there and pay for everything but the tourney. Not sure if it is worth it or not so I need to figure it out. There were only 4 people from the bar I play at that made this tourney but 3 of us made the top 16 so we might go together. More on that as I know more. The winner of that tourney does get an entry into any WSOP/WPT 10K buyin event so it might be worth the shot, but I also think that if it is going to cost me $500 for the weekend, it might be better served in entry fees in online sattelites of the same? What do you think?

Friday, February 24, 2006

APL State Championship Tourney

I don’t write too much about my Monday night, Amateur Poker League exploits too often, mostly because I haven’t been able to play as much since I started writing this boring blog. Anyway, the last couple weeks, I haven’t done that great, last week I think I went out in like 19th place out of about 50 or so. I ended up pushing with pocket 10s and got called by A4o. He hit the A on the flop and the 2 additional 4s didn’t help me either. Anyway, it’s been a bit of struggle lately.

Back in December, I won a Monthly Venue Championship. In order to qualify for that, all you have to do is place in the top 16 in one tournament during the previous month. I had done pretty well and ended up catching some luck along the way to win the MVC.

Well, because of that win, I just found out that I qualified for the State Championship, which is being held tomorrow, at the same bar that I usually play. Almost like a home field advantage if you will.

There are only 60ish people eligible for the tourney and the top 8 or 16 (not sure which yet) move on to the National Championship in Kansas City! I think that is how it works anyway. I can’t get to the APL website from work because of the firewall, so I have to check it out tonight.

Roller coaster Thursday

Well, had a nice roller coaster ride on Interpoker last night that stopped just before the plunge, which was cool.

There was no action at all for Omaha Hi/Lo so I figured I would have to take my chances at the $25 NL tables instead. I want to try and get this bonus out of the way by the end of the weekend so figured this was my best shot.

I sat in on 2 tables with $20 on each table. I was reading some articles in Bluff on the train ride home yesterday and thought I would try to be a bit more aggressive and confident at the tables tonight. I know that anyone who uses Poker Tracker and has been playing at these tables with me, probably sees a fish or a mouse, so I was hoping to change my image.

I started getting some real nice cards. I had bullets by the fifth hand and raised 4BB preflop and got 2 callers. The flop was K 10 6 rainbow. The villain (yup, not gonna be a good one) lead out with a bet of $.50 and was called and it got back to me. I raised to $1.50 and was called by the villain. The turn was a rag. It was checked to me and I bet out $6 and after some thought, the village called. The river was another rag and the villain checked again to me. Knowing I might be in trouble I checked also to see his pocket 10s and his flopped set. Super, nice start. My $20 was now down to about $10 at that table.

On the other table, I was doing pretty well for the first half hour or so. I had flopped a set and grabbed some chips and won a couple other smallish pots to get me to about $34. I then see JJ in the BB. There is a min raise ahead of me so I reraise to $2.00. The original raiser raises to $10. I read this as an overbet to end it (Noone ever called me Ted Forrest), and fresh off my article reading and new brass balls, I decide to push. He dude thought for about 2 seconds and called. I had him covered by about $12, but that didn’t feel any better when he turned over his cowboys. I don’t improve and he even sends a finished kick to the junk when he spikes a K on the turn so I don’t have to hold my breath anymore. I could comfortably writhe in pain and not wait for the river.

At this point I am down to about $8 on one table and $12 on the other and feeling like I need a nice drink. Hmm, ok, Jack on the rocks.

I come back and see that Klopzi has joined my table. He talked me off the ledge with a some encouragement and it was focus time.

On the table we shared, I wasn’t getting too much love, but on the table that I got crushed with the kings, I started to get some momentum. I got bullets again and they held up. I pulled a dude along and basically doubled up. I was $22 or so when I flopped a set and the board was nice too. I think and A or K was there. I made some cash there. I deck kept hitting me in the face on that table when my buddy mike sat down. I was up to about $38 when I get JJ in MP and this is the wonderful hand history. (I know, you love hand histories, there will be 2 today). This one, not so good.

I figured I was beat. Did I misplay this one? I way overplayed the JJ earlier but his flop and turn bet seemed convincing enough that he had the A. Agree or disagree?

Anyway, I was a little bummed out about that one but still had about $32 when only a couple hands later I get a pair of 6s, again in MP/EP. This is the hand history (last one I promise, have to show the good one right?)

This dude was at the other table I was on with Klopzi too so I couldn’t hoot and holler like I wanted to. Anyway, I decided to take care of the home fires a little bit after that and conserve my little win. I went a little card dead and got out of there about 20 minutes later.

All in all, up about $25 for the night so I can’t complain. I should have made more if I didn’t overplay those Jacks but I did learn from it at least.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Boring Wednesday night recap

Had a tough night on Interpoker last night. After about 3 hours of play, I ended up losing $20 at both PL Omaha Hi/Lo and NLHE in ring games.

I did finally sit at a table with Klopzi, which was a thrill, until he abruptly had to leave because a beating he took on his other table. While I was on the waiting list to join the table, I was sweating him and he was doing quite well.

Anyway, thanks for those of you that posted some resources for me on Omaha. I don’t think I was doing that badly actually, but there was someone at the table who was raising the pot limit before every flop. Not really knowing much strategy, I probably should have just left the table, but noooooo. I ended up staying in a couple hand with AA2x or AK2x or AK3x etc. It was costing me about a $1.15-$1.65 each time though and when I missed the flop and he bet out the pot, I would have to fold. I know I had to tighten up with his play, but apparently I didn’t tighten up enough.

When I would have a hand, the river would smack me down (like the nut low and then have the 2 fall on the river while the other dude holds the 3, etc) so that cost me some dough too. I have a LOT to learn in this game so I will keep reading. I am just hoping to grind it out and clear my bonus. I am about 65% there after last night.

In the NL game, I struggled as well. I ended up donking off chips on continuation bets that were called then folding to bigger turn bets. I was also getting beat up on when in the blind with a high card and a crap kicker and flopping top pair. I would throw out a half pot probe bet and get called or played back at and have to fold. They weren’t big bets but not worth continuing with either. I know some people were onto that also and may have been raising my probe bets knowing I was going to fold. The same thing would happen if I checked it. It would check around and the turn would not be a scary card so I would probe bet it. I took down very few, small pots and most of the time was raised on. Should I have stopped betting out when I flopped a weak top pair?

The final straw on NL was near the end of my session when a new person sat at the table and started pushing on 2/3 of his hands. He got caught once or twice but I just tightened up. I finally got AKd in the BB and the same guy pushed. I decided to make a stand but the button called him first. The button had only about $4 and I was at about $9 of my original $20 at that point. After thinking about it, I decided to call it anyway and I was tied with the button with big slick, although mine were sooted.

The donk raiser turned over 79o. He hit the miracle straight on the river and I was “Sitting out”. Mothaf@cka.

Oh well, back at it tonight. I just need to severely tighten it up and let my bonus clear. Hopefully, the conditions will be a little better at the tables tonight. The only thing I don’t like about Interpoker (sorry Klopzi) is the low traffic. At best there are 2 15c/25c PL Omaha tables going and maybe 3 or 4 10c/25c NL tables going. I think it has to do with the fact that it is a European site and the time I am playing (9pm EST-12am EST) isn’t a good one for that region.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

New love or just a steamy affair? PL Omaha Hi/Lo

Omaha hi/lo is my new favorite game for clearing bonus. Since I have recently changed my focus to bonus whoring to build the bankroll, learning this game has really helped. After pimping Klopzi on Interpoker, I had $100 bonus to clear by playing 500 raked hands. The rake, however, has to be over $1 to get a full point toward the 500. Any rake that is between $.25-$.99 is worth a quarter of a point.

I was playing the crappy fixed limit tables and making no progress at all. Then I railed a PL Omaha Hi/Lo game and saw the big pots that were being generated by all the donks. I read up a little bit and jumped in with extreme caution. Unless I had pocket As or Ks or A2 and other connected cards, I just bailed and let everyone beat the crap out of each other.

I really don’t have any idea what I am doing to be honest. If anyone can send me some good resources on PL Omaha Hi/Lo strategy, I would really appreciate it.

What I really notice is that once I clear the bonus, I don’t know how much I would want to play this game. The house must love it because it seems that most pots that showdown are chopped and the house is the only winner with the rake anyway. I have cleared about 280 hands in about 6 hours of play and I am down about $5 total. I got a little frisky last night and jumped into a $10+$1 SNG and got smoked. Again, I have no idea about strategy in this game, so I have a ton to learn. Send me your help if you would be so kind.

WWdN Invitational #15

The wife went out last night, so after I put the kids to bed, I decided to play in the weekly Wil Wheaton tourney. I played about a month ago and did ok, came in 18th and got beat on a bad hand. I remember everyone saying how tough the tourney was that night, so I thought I would take another shot and see how I would do. I also like all the banter that goes on in these tourney’s from the first hand, until the final table. It is a lot of fun to watch. I don’t know enough people to participate in the banter yet, but that is one of the reason I like to play. I get to see how people are, then check out their space. That usually adds to the bloglines list, which is always fun.

After last night, I totally agree that this is a very tough $10+$1 tourney. Not that I play a lot of them, mind you, but my starting table was:

Sorry if I butchered your sites. Anyway, I think that was it. Ugh, it was ugly for me. The table was very aggressive and I stayed out of the way for the first level and a half. I then supremely over and underplayed big slick and lost about 40% of my stack. Raised it 4BB preflop and was called by Kat. Flop came 3 4 6 rainbow I think and I bet out about 75% of the pot. She obviously put me on the continuation bet and called it. I then made about the same bet on the turn, since I have been kicking myself for not following through on the turn with a bet after just being flat called. She again called me, so I figured she had me. I checked it and expected a bet, but she also checked. She flipped her pair of 5s and I was wounded. She must have sensed weakness from my flop bet, plus she had the open ended straight draw. What could I have done better there? (not a rhetorical question, comment please?)

Although I was wounded, I still had enough chips, as long as I started to get some cards. I didn’t. I would get a tiny pocket pair and raise 2 or 3BB only to be reraised and I had to lay it down. This happened a couple of times. I got big slick again (have I mentioned I hate that frickin hand?) and just limped from LP after a bunch of limpers. Missed the flop and folded weakly to a bet.

Finally, with only about 400 left and the blinds at 50/100, I got the hammer. Being a blogger tourney, along with my nearly hopeless situation at the time, I min raised and was reraised (of course, why wouldn’t I be) so I pushed. My hammer was up against JJ and something else I think. The board came down low but I couldn’t complete the straight or 2 pair (I think I paired the 7s) and I was on the rail, watching all the good players go at it.

It was a terrible showing by me, but still worth the time. It was fun and no stress. The two people that read this thing, you should give it a try next week. Now I need to go read some new (new to me anyway) blogs.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Casino $2/$4 action

I have only played B&M poker at Bally’s in Vegas once and Foxwoods in CT three times. Each time, I have played the lowest fixed limit stakes available, which is $2/$4 limit.

For those of you that have played only online, the casino experience has been completely different to me. When playing $2/$4 online, which I have done very few times, the players are generally pretty good. They play good cards and bet when their hand is made (total generality I know).

In the casinos, the action that I have seen is very loose. I mean ridiculously loose. This weekend, I played about a total of 8 hours at the $2/$4 tables. On average, you could expect that 8 or 9 players were in to see each flop! There were very few pre-flop raises, with a couple exceptions. The thing with pre-flop raises, though, was they were simply a pot builder. You could really not get anyone out of the pot by raising. The only exception to that was if you were UTG or if there was a reraise by middle position. That might deter some people to enter the pot, but you would still end up with 5 in for the flop.

Once people saw the flop, unless there was a lot of raising going on, pretty much everyone had the odds to keep calling the hand down to the end.

This completely changed my strategy in that, if I was in late position, and the whole table was in the pot, I would be playing cards that I normally wouldn’t. I was still only getting into about 40% of the pots, but almost always was in on the button and the blinds. If I saw suited connectors, suited one gaps, or any pair, I was in to see the flop. Even connected high cards like J10o, QJo, etc, I was playing. This obviously can get you in trouble if you get dominated, but it was tough to resist.

When you keep seeing the winner turning over 103o, J5o, Q4o, it can get frustrating if you are playing a lot of hands. I chose to just try to play as normally (tight) as possible and it worked out for me.

The first session, which I wrote about, I was up a good amount. The second session, I only made about $10 over the course of about 2 hours. The last session, I was up as much as $70 but ended up leaving the table down $10.

My losses in that session really came down to 2 hands. The first hand, I was QJs in late position and limped in. Since there were 8 others in the hand, there was $18 in the pot pre-flop. After the flop, I had a straight flush draw when the board came down 9s 10s 2d. I bet $2 and got about 5 callers. There was about $28 in the pot when the 3s came on the turn. It was checked to me and I bet $4 and had 2 callers. With $40 in the pot, the river was a blank and it was again checked around to me. I bet another $4 and there was a fold, then a check raise to me. With the $48 in the pot, $12 of which was mine, I had to call knowing that only the As+xs or Ks+xs would beat me. The raiser showed me his Ks 2s and I lost $16 on the hand.

The other big hand was more of my stupidity than anything else. I limped in from the small blind with Q 10o. Again there were 8 others in and the pre-flop pot was $18. The flop was 8 9 8 so I checked and so did everyone else until the button who bet $2. Figured it was a position bet (which happened on EVERY hand) so I called, as did everyone else. There was now $36 in the pot. The turn was a blank and action checked around the one of the MP guys who threw in $4. There were 2 callers before me, including the button so I called as did 2 more. There was now about $56 in the pot. The river was the J I needed for my straight. I led out with a bet and was immediately raised by the next to act, who had been checking and calling all along. The after her called the $8! I thought as I held the chips in my hands and figured with $76 in the pot, I had to call, plus I thought I had the best hand. I threw in the chips but mistakenly threw in $8 instead of the $4 to call so I had raised it! The woman who was next then capped it. I can’t even remember if the other 2 guys called or not but I threw in my $4 in certain defeat as she flipped over her 9 9 for the boat.

Ugh, that was a costly hand and very well played by her. The funny thing was, she had been in all kinds of pots with dogpoop hands earlier and had already reloaded once while I was at the table. I wouldn’t have felt so bad if I had just called her raise and was beat, but to basically through in another $8 on top of that really hurt.

Overall, it was a lot of fun and I should have made more money. I actually left that table and met up with a couple of my buddies who were getting ready to play 3 card poker. I decided to jump into the “pair plus” bet only and hang with them for a while. I had about $80 on the table and was just playing the $10 pair plus bet blind. When the dealer got to me, he would flip them for me and either take my money or pay me. I ended up doubling my money over the course of about a half hour as I hit 3 flushes.

Next we jumped into Carribean Stud Poker. Another game I don’t like too much because you can get crushed quickly. I ended up playing for about another half hour and making $100 when I hit a straight one hand. Not a bad way to finish my trip.

On a side note, there was a new table game called Texas Hold’em. You get 2 pocket cards along with everyone else and the dealer. It cost $10 as an initial bet with a $5 bonus. If you like your cards enough to play, you double your bet, so another $20 to see the flop. After the flop, you can bet your initial amount again on both the turn and river, but you can also just check. After the river, the dealer shows down against each player for the win or loss. The bonus pays different amounts according to your pocket cards only. Anywhere from 1-1 up to 30-1 for pocket AA. We watched for a while and everyone was winning and the dealers were clueless. It was pretty funny.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Foxwoods Trip Report

No suspense here. I busted out of the Friday morning tourney pretty early. It was pretty disappointing, being the first one that I did, but I thought I played ok.

I got some nice hands early and within the first hour, I had doubled my stack and playing aggressively. I had to showdown a couple hands and they were all good ones, so my image was pretty good at the table. Then, about an hour an a half in, I had a hand that, I think, kinda put me on tilt. That coupled with the going card dead, make me slip out pretty quick.

You start in this tourney with T2000 in chips and the blinds start at 25/25 and increase every 20 minutes. I saw 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, than 150/300 with a 25 ante.

The hand that put me on tilt went like this. I limped with K10o in the small blind when the blinds were 100/200. At this point, I had about 4000 in the stack. The flop came K 8 6 with 2 diamonds. Being first to act, I bet out 600 into a pot of about 1200. It folded around to a guy that had I taken just about his whole stack early but had chipped back up. The next guy had just been moved to our table and was a short stack. He also called, then any left folded.

Obviously, I was hoping everyone would get out of the pot, and with only the 10 kicker, I wasn't feeling all that confident. The turn was another diamond. I checked it (which was probably my mistake) but didn't like the look of the diamond and the other 2 in checked also. The river came down a blank. I checked again (which I am now sure was a mistake) and so did the guy who had chipped up. The short stack then pushed his last 675 in. Now I know I had 800 in a pot of about 3400 but after thinking, and looking up to find the guy who had chipped up staring at me with a smirk, I layed it down.

If I had called and lost, I would have been left with about 2500, but that wasn't really my fear. My fear was, the chip up dude was going to go over the top on me if I called and then I would have had to call off about another 1000+. If I was the only one left in the pot, even with the risk of the flush, I probably would have called, even though I would have thought I was paying it off.

Well, if I have told this effectively, you realize that I layed down the best hand. The short stack had dogpoop. The caller had K9o!

Anyway, I just couldn't get it out of my head fast enough as the blinds went up and the antes ate my stack. The cards went dead and when I was dealt A10o on the button, I pushed my last 1100 in but was called by an UTG who had raised one BB. He ended up with AK and took me out. I probably had more time and shouldn't have pushed. I knew I would be called, but I was just hoping to have a middle pair and coinflip. Ended up down to 3 outs.

Drewsmom and I ended up catching the final table with 5 left about 5 hours later in the day. The tourney started with 250, which was a full house and the winner took down $5K. The funniest part about it was that it ended up being a woman who really didn't know too much about the game. Well, I should say, that was what all the donkeys on the rail were saying. They kept saying it should have been over an hour before if she knew anything about pot odds. She had laid down her hand a few times to very small raises I guess. I did see that she really wasn't that confident in what she was doing but hey, she kicked ass and Drewsmom was really happy to see her win it and stick it in the faces of all the railbirds. I was too, to be honest. The guy she was heads up with was an obvious mainstay at the casino. He knew all the dealers and the TD real well. He actually took the chip lead from her, then ended up losing in a couple tough beats. It was good stuff.

Anyway, more tomorrow on my $2/$4 limit experience down there. I will tease Klopzi and Hoff with this. I was easily one of the top 3 players at each of the tables I played at, over the course of the 8 hours I played. They will know too, I am pretty humble about my poker playing level (I pretty much suck), so that should tell you something. BIG different between online and B&M games. At least the $2/$4 limit tables, which are the lowest stakes game there is. More to come.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Act 1

Just left the tables. Ended up losing about $100 at craps then winningabout $5, yes $5 whole dollars at $2/$4 limit.

Went back to $2/$4 after dinner and sat with $60 to start, figuring I wouldhave to reach in the pocket if I hit a bad streak. The deck startedhitting me in the face. I was up to $170 at one point. I then had acouple bad hands and left the table with $130. Not a bad session.

I gave most of my winning bad though at craps. It happens so fast too.

Anyway, I am now in line waiting to register for the Friday morning NLtourney. Looks like it is going to be a big crowd.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Post on Steal the Blinds; SNG strategy

Hey, check out the post on Steal the Blinds posted by Beck a couple days ago. Great strategy advice on once you get 4 handed in a SNG. I just played 2 and combined the strategy that was referenced by Hoff a couple weeks ago, with this new post on STB.

In the first one I bubbled. It was disappointing but just didn't work out. I jumped back on the horse and did another $5+$1 and I won it! I did get luck when I raised with pocket 5s preflop and a shorter stack pushed. I called and was up against his Ks but spiked the 5. That poker dude. Anyway, after that, I rolled. Once in the money, I trapped a guy that I was about even with when I made my straight on the turn. Checked to him and he pushed. Once he was gone, I had the chip lead and just "terrorized" the dude I was heads up with. I actually really needed the win. Had a bad little run at the limit table so this got me back.

Playing one more now, then off to get some rest for the weekend. Check out the article!

Foxwoods; Mobile Blogging?

Well, my mobile blogging didn't work today. At least not yet. Although the email I sent yesterday posted without a problem, for some reason, it didn't work today. I wrote this on the train this morning and waited for it to show up until now. I am just gonna post it the old fashion way. Also not sure what the problem is with the picture I uploaded. Anyway...

Last day for me at work for the week. Drewsmom and I are headed to Foxwoods tomorrow morning and staying until Friday. It is her birthday tomorrow so while she is at the spa doing what women do, I will be hitting the tables.

I love planning the attack when we make this occasional trip. Other than when I went in December, we went in August, but hadn't been for about 2 years before that. Foxwoods is the only legal poker show around for me. We live about 2 and a half hours away so the trips so at a minimum. Anyway, I love playing craps and whenever I have been in the past, the table minimums have been too high to play. I hear during the week, the tables can be found at $5 so I might be using some of my poker cash there first.

The plan is to play craps with $100 and either double up or lose it. I have had a lot of success in Vegas playing $5 craps, so we'll see. From there, I will be spending the rest of my time in the poker room, while drewsmom slips into a relaxed state.

I have never gone any higher than $2/$4 limit games at Foxwoods. It is a chasers dream as I probably talked about in my December post. Still, I don't have the confidence to play NL cash games down there, so that is probably where I will spend a lot of time.

My goal is to win my buyin to the Friday morning, 8am tourney, which is $100. I guess they usually pretty much fill the tourney up at 250 people so the winner gets a nice big chunk of cash. I have had a lot of success/luck/non-bad luck in large MTT live tournaments, so I want to see where I stand. No big expectations of course, but I want to see how I do.

I figure the 2 days are going to cost me about $300 in gambooling money that could really be better spent as an addition to my online bankroll, but oh well. It will be fun.

Speaking of my paltry bankroll, I decided to cash out from Ultimate Bet and ended up depositing $100 at Interpoker through Klopzi's pimpage. Figured he was working it pretty hard, might as well give him some love.

I started out doing pretty well and was up about $10 on the 25c/50c limit tables. I also got into a 10c/25c NL table for a little bit because I didn't know they were $25 tables until I sat. I won a small pot or 2 and ran away before I gave away my money.

Last night I actually played some 7 card stud and was up big after I played like 3 hands. Fell back to reality though and ended down about $5. I cleared a bunch of hands toward the bonus though. Unfortunately, the swing are too big for my bankroll right now. It will be back to low fixed this hold em this weekend on Interpoker.

I'll send my live blogs from Foxwoods over the next couple days. Maybe they will even post?

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Been having trouble finding time to post lately...

Work has really picked up, so I am trying this email to blogger feature for the first time. I commute on the train to work with my blackberry every day, so if this works, I can find more time to post I guess, we'll see...

Home Tourney Recap-Updated with Photo finally

So the snow did hold off for the tourney at my house. Ended up with 43 people in total, which was a good crowd. I played pretty well, I think. I finished 10th, which missed the final table, and the cash, by 3 spots, but I was happy with my decisions. I had a little bit below average stack when we were down to 10, with 2 tables of 5 people each. The blinds were up to 1500/3000 and I had about 12000 in chips, with the average being at about 16000. I did have the short stack at my table and went completely card dead. I swear I didn’t get anything higher than a 10 for about 10 straight hands, and was just getting bludgeoned when I was in the blinds. It was a bad way to go out, basically being blinded out, but I didn’t have the balls (nor a big enough stack at that point) to try and push to steal. When I was down to about 2500, I did get AK and pushed then, but ended up getting beat by a small pair.

That set up the final table just a little while later. The final table was painful to watch. There was only 1 woman in the field, and she tore it up. Ran over everyone until that point and ended up taking the top stop. That was not the painful part. She is a very good player, so I was glad she won it. The part that made it painful was the fact that she was complete shitfaced, and still managed to kick ass. Makes me think about what a crappy player I must be. Actually, she got lucky on a couple hands after she made bad calls but outdrew her opponent. Hey, with the stack she had, she could afford to take chances and they paid off.

The final hand was great. She was bobbing all around, my buddy that was dealing kept telling me he swore she was gonna puke all over him (this is good, Al Can’t Hang stuff). She has 98h in the BB, and the SB calls. She literally takes 5 minutes to understand whether she should check or raise. Kept saying we were making her nervous, asking how many chips she had to put in, blah blah blah. I thought the other dude was gonna kill her. Finally, she just checked. The flop comes out 6h 5d 10h. The SB says, “all right, let’s get this over with” and pushes his last 27K in. She had him covered by about 5-1. She thinks and thinks and thinks. She kept asking if I could help her, blah blah blah. Finally, she asked how many to put in and calls. She has the St8 flush draw and he flips over a 10 and a 5 for 2 pair. When he sees her hand, he knew he was in trouble. The turn brought the 7d and that was it. I ended up passing the cash over to her husband, who was a little more sober, and playing in a side game, which he just stuffed in his pocket.

With the main tourney done, and a pint of Jack in me, I got into a side game myself while she disappeared. I figured she was either gonna pass out, or puke as soon as she left the room. That would have been the best things for me and my house.

About 10 minutes after my game started, I could hear something going on in the other part of the basement, which is my kids playroom. A couple people came in cracking up, while a couple others looked a little horrified. When you have 50 people in your house and 6 tables of poker going, you are pretty happy usually. I was content to ignore the chaos and focus on my game. A minute later someone says to my wife (who was also playing a different side game, not sure I like having to finance both of us, but anyway) that there was something going on out in the playroom.

What you see above, is a perfect imprint of the tourney winner’s ass, against my basement wall!

Apparently, she lost her balance and fell backward into the wall, full force and went right through it. Dude is over fixing it today, no harm done.

The moral of the story, I guess, is keep the shots of Jack to a minimum when playing poker at a friends house.

I ended up splitting the last side game of the night, which we started with 7 guys at about 1:45am for $25 each. I took $85 from that when we got down to 2 of us and it was 3am. The snow was starting to get bad so we split. Another successful home tourney ;-)

Friday, February 10, 2006

Snow, snow, stay away...

Tomorrow night is my big tourney at my house. I have room for 48 people in my basement and it was all filled up until someone had an unforunate death in the family that took 6 people out of the mix. Anyway, I have 44 right now so it should be a good time. The only thing I have to worry about is a snow storm that is being forecast for tomorrow night. They are saying the snow is supposed to start around the same time as the tourney so we will see.

It will be interesting to see how much the addiction of poker will make people risk in turns of possible bodily harm on the icy roads. My money is on a full room.

I hope to have some fantastic stories of good and bad play. I think I have really improved since my last big game at the beginning of December. We'll see tomorrow.

Thursday Night update Current Bankroll $120

I thinking my last update about my online bankroll I had $90.56 at Ultimate Bet. I played a lot of live games over the weekend but not much online. I had lost 1 buy-in at the $10 NL tables and that was about it. In that one, I had to lay down an Ace high flush after putting $3.50 in the pot when the other guy in the hand put me all in and Js and 2s on the board. I played the hand ok but it put me in a hole and apparently put me on tilt enough that I ended up donking the rest of my buy-in later.

In my typical fashion, I was not sticking to the plan last night. I had about $80 left at Ultimate, but the grinding at the 25c/50c tables was bugging me. I decide to take $25 to a 50c/1.00 limit table and see what happened. After a couple of miserable hands, I was down to about $15. Then my luck changed. I played the same tight aggressive style, but the donkeys at the table weren't hitting their draws anymore. My superior starting hands were actually holding up. After winning 3 nice hands in a row, I was up to $30. That was when I noticed that this one guy at the table continually raised and bet with pretty bad cards. After I had earlier laid down better hands, I decided I had to take a stand. I had some good pocket cards (don't remember the details really) in the BB so I called his raise. I ended up with a strong hand after the flop and he kept firing away. I ended up calling him down and saw that he had crap again. Next hand, same thing happened. I had a strong starting hand and hit the flop. When he kept firing, I raised his bets and after the flop, he actually re-raised me. He did make me pause, but I called him down as he bet the turn and flop again. Again, he had dog poop! He obviously knew I was onto him at that point. As soon as the hand was over, sadly, sniff, sniff, he left the table. I was up to $41 and had cleared about $3 in bonus. Good start to the night.

I then jumped into a $5 sng. I really like playing the sngs better than the ring games. I feel like I am pretty good at them. Then, I get in one and get bounced out in 10th place (wah wah wahhhh). Again, not sure of the details of that one. I think I got crippled playing pocket 10s too strong, then pushing with A10 and got called and bounced by AK.

Anyway, I jumped back on the horse after re-reading the article I found in Hoff's blog from a couple weeks ago. I noticed that the reason I wasn't having any luck with it was because I wasn't following it very well. I was still playing marginal hands (KJo, pairs below 6, Q10s, etc) and usually missing the flop. That helped me get down in chips so I had no shot at scaring anyone when it got to 5 handed. My stack was too small.

So after re-reading the article, I decided to stick to it completely. It was tough. The urges were strong but I resisted. It paid off when I looked down at AA and some had raised in front of me. I re-raised and he pushed. My AA stood up to JJ and I had a nice big stack early. I ended up getting some really crazy good cards (AA, JJ, AK, QQ) and running over the table. With that win, was feeling pretty good. I jumped into another one and did pretty well, but ended up bubbling out. Again, I forge the details but was happy with the way I played. One hand I do remember was kinda late and I had A10s. I raised to 3BB and got called. I missed but threw out a 1/3 pot continuation bet and was flat called. I missed the turn and put in a 1 BB bet to put off the bet and fold (which was probably stupid) and again got flat called. The river was a blank and I checked. The dude put in a bet of about 10% of the pot and like the donkey I was on this hand, I called thinking he was probably just trying to push me off. He had a set of 8s. Two of them were on the board. He typed in "A10, haha". I will admit it was a terrible hand. I didn't give him credit for having a had at all, but should have realized he at least had me beat. The fact he laughed was a riot though because he had called a 3BB raise with 48o?? Anyway, that hurt me and I bubbled.

Now I know I am gonna take some heat for this, but I decided to jump into a $10 sng, even though my bankroll says, NO! I liked the way I was playing and wanted to push it a bit, plus I was getting a little bored (Klopzi, is that a stage?). I again followed the above guidelines and ended up playing a good game. I was very happy with my patience when it got down to 4 of us. I had just lost a bad hand and was the small stack but kept pushing and grabbing blinds. After about 15 minutes of 4 handed play, I was in the money, but as the short stack. I was just happy that I had made it, knowing that I shouldn't have been in the game for bankroll reasons anyway. In the past, in this situation, I think I gave up a little too easy and took some unnecessary risks too early. Once I was in the money, I was happy, but not last night. Even though I was the short stack, for some inexplicable reason, the 2 larger stacks started going at each other. I was still able to steal some blinds and hang around, still as the short stack. I ended up winning 2 hands in a row and got within striking distance, but then went card dead for about 5 minutes to put be back down to the short stack. Just as it looked like I would have to happy with 3rd, the big stacks got into a couple back to back hands and I had moved into second. On the next hand, I was about 10-1 underdog in chips and pushed with my A2o (wink) but lost to a pocket pair of 6s. Either way, I was very happy to cash in 2nd. The bankroll stands at around $120 or something like that now.

Sorry for this ramble but I was happy with the night. I am thinking about moving my money from Ultimate, since the bonus never expires, and trying someplace new. I need to really whore up the bonus money if I can. My buddy suggested Hollywood Poker. Any other suggestions (insert pimping comments now)?

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

A2o is a monster!

Been real busy at work this week. New guy in charge is “renewing focus” with consultants, “mentoring”, etc blah blah blah. Really cutting into my posting and reading time so this will probably be brief (I got interrupted by said, new guy, to discuss my future for about an hour here, but anyway).

Played in live games three times since last Friday. Friday night, I have 8 guys over my house for a few games. I ended up winning one of the games and finishing high, but not in the money (1st and 2nd cash) on the other 3. There were 3 guys playing that didn’t really know what they were doing and it really affected the games. A good example was when I have KQ suited and flopped top pair. I bet out a pot size bet in late position and one of the guys called me. The turn was a blank so I put out a half pot bet and he called me. The river was an ace. I checked and he bet a small enough amount that I had to call but knew he had the ace. He had A4 offsuit. Had absolutely nothing until the river. That lost me a pretty good amount of chips.

In the game that I did win, I ended up with suited big slick and raised by 5BB. The same guy pushed on me. He had been really playing crazy all night so I couldn’t really put him on a great hand, but I had him covered so I called. I think it ended up being about an additional 5BBs. He of course flipped over bullets. I ended up rivering the flush on him and didn’t hear the end of it for the rest of the night.

Also in that game, one of the good players in the group flopped 2 pair when I flopped a set. He was short stacked so he pushed and I put him out with my set of rockets vs his aces over 4s.

On Saturday night I went up to my college roommates house to play. There were 10 people all together and mostly everyone knew what they were doing. Again, I ended up winning one and bubbling out on the other 2 that I played in.

In the one that I won, there was one crazy hand that I pulled out to put me on top and help me to the win. In this game, we started with 500 in chips and we were at about 20/40 blinds. I think I was down to about 400, mostly because of blinds. I had K2h at the cut off. There were 2 limpers so I called the 40. The button called and then the BB min raised. Everyone called so I called and the button called. That put 330 in the pot.

The flop came Ah, 10h, 5d. The first to act BB then pushed his last 320 into the pot. That was exactly what I had left so I was mulling my decision while the next original caller thought also. After a long stall, he also called, which put him also all in. I had them on top pair and/or straight draw, so with the odds the way they were, especially with the button still to act, I called it with my nut flush draw. Surprisingly, the button also called, as he had everyone covered.

Everyone flipped their cards and everyone had the following. BB had J8h, caller had A5o, and the button had A10o. I caught the 7h on the turn, with a blank on the river to pull down the monster pot. Hey, sometimes you need some luck right? Good play or bad play people? Let me know.

The third live game I played was on Monday night at the bar. This the free Amateur Poker League game that I do each week. I hadn’t been in the last 2 weeks because of my Disney trip, then my B-day so I was pretty pumped to go. There were 56 people and I ended up in 15th. I was doing pretty well then went card dead for a while. With only T3000 left and the blinds at T1000/T2000, I had to make a move. The blinds were only 3 spots away and I had A2o. Remember those hold cards. They played a big role in the next 3 hands.

I pushed my last T3000 in and had another guy go over the top with T9000. The blinds folded and the guy who had called in front of my folded also. There was T11000 in chips and he had K7d. I took the pot when I spiked a deuce and was in good shape.

I felt good but new at these blinds, it could be just a hand anyway, so in order to win this thing, I had to keep being aggressive.

The next hand, I look down at AKd, and being the first into the pot, I pushed it all in. The girl across from me, thought for a while, then called her last T9000 while everyone else folded. She turned over her cards, which were A2o, and I had her dominated…Until the flop. 2, 2, 3 rainbow. Ouch. I even caught the K on the turn but no good.

I was down to T2000 and looked down at cowboys. I am now UTG and push it in, figuring I should be able to pull it out, with some luck. I get 2 callers, one of which is also all in now. We flip the cards and they have A2o (notice a theme here?) and A7o respectively. The flop comes 10, 3, 4. Not a great flop, but pretty good for me. The turn is a 7. Care to guess what the river was? Yeah, as the dude says, “give me a 5”, the poker gods give him his 3 outer and I am gone. A2o, the monster hand.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Home game tonight

I am having a home game tonight. Usually get around 8 or so guys. $10 games that usually last about an hour and half so we usually get 2 or 3 in. Should be a good time. I usually do ok with this group so hopefully I will win some cash that I can deposit into my online bankroll. We'll see.

I am also having a big game a week from tomorrow. I have 46 confirmed right now! I feel like an airline because that is really over my capacity of 42 (Maybe I can sqeeze in another table). The last time I did a big tourney like this, it was a blast but I did have a small number of last minute bailouts. $55 a head if you are in the area! I guarantee a spot to anyone that actually learns of this game through my blog!

Day 1 of building that bankroll, not! Current Bankroll $90.56

I started my new strategy last night by playing 25c/50c limit on Ultimate. The blinds were 10c/25c. The next level down was 5c/10c limit so I decided to start here at 25c/50c and try to clear some bonus and build the bankroll. (Figured I might need to invest a bit more into the initial bankroll if a bad streak started me off, based on Klopzi’s advice.) Anyway, the two hour session was like kissing your sister. I basically broke even.

I sat at the table with $15 and after about an hour was up to about $27 due to a couple nice hands and smaller pots. Here are the hand histories of the two nice ones:

WDW1972 is at seat 0 with $37.95.Confiture is at seat 1 with $17.65.drewspop is at seat 2 with $17.45.bakker is at seat 3 with $24.70.Diggin Deep is at seat 4 with $11.05 (sitting out).zenon_mist is at seat 5 with $28.20.oo13 is at seat 6 with $25.55.still kickin is at seat 7 with $4.05.InDebt11 is at seat 8 with $3.80.1NYYFAN is at seat 9 with $17.65.The button is at seat 9.

WDW1972 posts the small blind of $.10.Confiture posts the big blind of $.25.

WDW1972 is at seat 0 with $37.85.Confiture is at seat 1 with $16.15.drewspop is at seat 2 with $19.65.bakker is at seat 3 with $24.70.zenon_mist is at seat 5 with $28.20.oo13 is at seat 6 with $25.55.still kickin is at seat 7 with $4.05.InDebt11 is at seat 8 with $3.30.1NYYFAN is at seat 9 with $17.40.The button is at seat 0.

Confiture posts the small blind of $.10.drewspop posts the big blind of $.25.

$.15 is raked from a pot of $3.drewspop wins $2.85 with straight, king high.I might have played them both a little soft but I was afraid of getting outkicked on the first. I probably should have raised the river but oh well.

I ended up getting chased down for a couple hands and left the table with $21.55, plus a small amount of bonus cleared.

I left the table because I thought the wife was ready to retire but instead she decided to what the tivo’d “Dancing with the Stars” from last night. Umm, can you say hot. Anyway, I decided to find another table to sit at and started off with the same $15 at the new table.

Ugh, not a good hour at all. I really got out of my game and undisciplined at this table. I recognize it so I can fix it for next time. I was raising with middle pair, calling bets with back kicker, etc. The way I played was bad and that is all I can fault for this losing session. Here is an example hand:

awopie is at seat 0 with $4.75.Brubill is at seat 1 with $21.45.FRY35 is at seat 2 with $18.50.drewspop is at seat 3 with $8.70.kjf is at seat 4 with $10.spirit9 is at seat 5 with $15.90.jmarklo is at seat 6 with $9.95.rdavey is at seat 7 with $27.95.HighHopes1 is at seat 8 with $26.80.mangoduvall is at seat 9 with $9.20.The button is at seat 3.The partial kill button is at seat 5.

spirit9 posts the small blind of $.10.jmarklo posts the big blind of $.25.

$.20 is raked from a pot of $4.50.awopie wins $4.30 with a pair of queens.

Not that my kicker was terrible but in the first hour, I was cautious, while this hour, I was reckless.

I will get better dammit. I ended up leaving the table with $6.10 for a loss of $8.90. That net with my win of $6.55 in the first hour plus a couple dollars in bonus left me with $90.56. I started with $91.56.

Lost a buck, but learned some lessons. Anyway, hopefully I won’t need to make that deposit but I just remember that I do have a little cash ($24) at Crazy Poker that I can push over. Anyway, have a good Friday and sorry for the long post.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Time for me to switch it up I think

Checked out Kent’s blog today that was linked on Klopzi. The blog is focused on his journey to build his bankroll. I share a lot of his experiences other than the brains to cash out and commit to learning more without wasting your money. The other day, I was looking at how much money I put into poker last year and it was a wake up call.

I realized that I have been way too careless and unorganized about the way I am playing. I need to stick to the lower limits and begin to capitalize on the free money being offered by the poor players at the low limits, as well as the bonuses.

Starting today, I am going to only play cash games so that I can clear my bonus at Ultimate Bet. My goal is to try and clear the bonus while, at least, breaking even on the current money I have.

This is where I need everyone’s feedback. I have about $92 in Ultimate right now. I have about $145 in bonus to clear (refer a friend, etc). They release you the bonus as you play raked hands and get points. Suggestions on the best way to clear the bonus while minimizing risk? I am thinking a mixture of $.05/$.10 NL ring, which is a $10 max buyin, and $.25/$.50 limit ring? Feedback? I will post my progress.

I just think that my up and downs in the SNGs aren’t getting me anywhere. I played 4 last night, cashing in 2 and bubbling out in the other 2 (5th in both). I only cashed in 3rd place though, so I ended up the night down by the juice. Anyway, I don’t get anything toward the bonus for these so I need to focus on taking the free money and build this up. One of these days, the wife might notice those Neteller deposits in the checking account, lol.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Gotta build up the bankroll

Been reading some of your blogs out there about ring game strategy and decided to take a crack at it last night. I have historically sucked at NL cash games so I was very cautious. I played the .05/.10 NL game on Ultimate last night. Sat down with the max $10 and ended up leaving about an hour an a half later up about $6. I have a large bonus to clear at Ultimate so I am hoping to keep playing and doing ok. Nothing too memorable during the game. The table was pretty ripe because there was very little preflop raising. Once I showed a couple of hands, I was able to take some control by betting at pots when the time was right. Overall, it was pretty good. I just have to get used to the action being as slow as it is as opposed to the SNGs. I really need to build up my bankroll though because I went through my Netteller account yesterday and realized how bad I did last year. It was all from being too impatient by playing in games that I really had no business being in like $20 SNGs, $15 SNGs, $10 MTTs and $1/$2 limit games. I need a good plan to build up the bankroll and I think I will try and take a page out of Klopzi and Huma’s play and commit to a plan of low stakes SNGs and low stakes NL ring games.

Ultimate was having some issues with the SNG tables but around 11pm they seemed to fix the issue and I jumped into a $5+.50, 10 seat game. I was playing pretty well and was either in the chip lead or close to it for most of the early part of the tourney. Even though my cards weren’t super, I hit some flops and chipped up.

I ended up cashing in 3rd but I had to struggle to get there. There was one hand that stood out, that really killed me, and it is my same old story.

I have about 2700 in chips in the BB while UTG has about 1500 when the blinds are at 50/100. UTG calls and after one caller, the action is to me. I have AJh and raise it to 400. UTG calls after some thought, and the other caller folds. The flop comes down Ac Jc 5c. UTG checks to me and with the pot at 950, I put in a bet of 500. UTG then insta-pushes. I have to call the raise of 600 into a pot of 2450. I gracefully type “FFFFFFFF” into the chat window as I click on the call button. UTG turns over the KJc and I watch the turn and river fall with blanks and I am down to about 1200 in chips just like that.

Ok, give me some more feedback. Did I play this wrong?

Anyway, I went card dead for a while and got down to about 700 before I doubled up against the big stack with 5 left and hung on for 3rd from there. Once in the money, I might have gotten a bit impatient but was about 1 to 5 in chips against the other 2 anyway so I had to take some chances. Oh, well, more poker tonight.